1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to means for making diapers, or other undergarments, especially as related to incontinence products. The present invention relates specifically to a diaper which is prefastened in its point of sale container so that the diaper may be used as a pull on type training pant but may be removed like a regular diaper by separating the front and rear waist portions thru disengaging the refastenable fastening means holding the front and rear together. The present invention relates even more specifically to a method of making such prefastened diapers when the diapers are laid out as in-process or precursor diapers, on a web, with their long axes in the cross machine, or cross, direction of the web.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There are two basic ways of manufacturing diapers from a web. One is to place the long axis of the diapers in the machine direction, also referred to as longitudinal or X-axis, of the web, with leg cutouts on the edges of the web. The second is to place the long axis of the diaper in the cross machine direction or Y-axis of the web with leg cutouts being formed from holes placed centrally in the web. These methods are generally illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively.
In the known art, there have been two ways of making the diaper web into point of sale items. One is to put refastenable tabs, such as adhesive tape or hook and loop combinations onto the diaper body, in the manner of an infant diaper, for later use to secure the back panel of the diaper to the front panel. A second is to bond the side edges of the front and back waist sections together to make a fixed waist band, in the manner of a training pant which is slid on and off the wearer like a regular adult garment. To remove such a garment if it becomes soiled it is necessary to break the waist band bond in order to remove the garment like a diaper, as convenience and hygiene would dictate. A simple flange seam where two inside surfaces are abutted and bonded is known in the art for the above mentioned waist seam. For example see FIG. 5 of Mahoney et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,530. Lap seams, wherein the surfaces to be joined are overlapped, outside surface to inside surface, are also known for diapers made in the machine direction or turned mechanically to be as if made in the machine direction, as taught in PCT International Application No. WO 96/20076 to Schmitz/The Procter and Gamble Company. While Schmitz teaches a method of accurate folding and placement of the overlapping areas of joining when presented preforms in the machine direction, the machinery involved in the process is quite complicated mechanically.
It is therefore desired to provide a training pant which may be slid-on in the fashion of an adult garment while being easily removeable in the manner of a diaper and which is made with relatively uncomplicated machinery.
In order to provide the desired object the present invention provides a point of sale diaper garment which is prefastened using refastenable fasteners as its sole closing means for front-to-back panel closure.
The present invention further provides means for accomplishing an accurate prefastening of a refastenable garment which is made in the cross machine direction. The present invention further provides a simple means for the making and packaging of the prefastened refastenable garment leading to overall gains in production speed.
The present invention provides method and means for making diapers in the cross machine direction on a web, separating individual diapers from the web, using a rotary wheel for folding the diapers in half, properly aligning the refastenable fasteners and pre-fastening them, then removing the prefastened diapers for packaging, with a mechanically simple and speedy in-line process.
A method of making a prefastened refastenable diaper or other undergarment includes the steps of forming a web of diaper material, cutting holes in the center of the web as precursor leg cutouts/margins, placing elastics, fastening tabs, and other add ones onto the web to prepare inchoate diapers having their long axes in the cross machine direction of the web, cutting the web to separate it into individual diapers, folding the diapers in half at the crotch section, placing the fastening tabs in lapping alignment and fastening the tabs together, then removing the diapers by the leg holes to bundle and place the diapers in point of sale containers. The method lends itself to simple machinery for accomplishing the manufacture of the diapers. The method creates diapers which are useful right out of the point of sale container as pull on training pants and which may be easily removed in the fashion of a diaper by separating the fasteners.
Folding of the diapers for placement on the rotary wheel may be accomplished by belts, cone rollers, vacuum or combinations thereof. Alignment and fastening of the fastening system may also be accomplished mechanically, with vacuum, i.e. negative air pressure; positive air pressure; or combinations thereof. Removal of the pre-fastened diaper for packaging may further be similarly accomplished.